208] 
independent and dignified, without 
pride. He was a friend to liberty, 
not licentiousness: not to the ab- 
straétions ef philosophers, but to 
those ideas of well-regulated free- 
dom, which the ancestors of the 
Americans had carried with them 
from England, and confirmed by the 
revolution towards the end of the 
eighteenth century. On those prin- 
ciples he fought and conquered ; 
conquered—but not for himself. He 
was a Hannibal, as well asa Fabius; 
a Cromwell, without his.ambition ; 
a Sylla, without his crimes.. 
As the children of men, in youth’ 
or the vigour of manhood, are more 
healthful and vigorous than those 
in the decline of life, so general 
Washington, descended and formed, 
by the spirit of England, in the 
purestand most flourishing period of 
English freedom, possessed a juster 
and higher spirit of liberty than 
what might, probably, have been 
bred by an emigration in the present 
times. When we refleét on the 
contest between monarchial power, 
on the one hand, and the spirit of 
insubordination, on the other, which, 
at the present moment, divide Ku- 
rope, we shall find reason to con- 
gratulate mankind, that the example 
of a happy medium between both 
has been set, and is likely to be 
more and more enforced, by the 
growing prosperity of America. In 
this view, general Washington ap- 
pears in the light of another Noab ; 
the pilot, who, sailing in the middle, 
between the dangers of Sylla and 
Charybdis, guided the ark that 
saved the human race from ruin. 
The French agents, Adet, Fauchet, 
Genet, and Dupont, had been sent 
out, to the American states, in the 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
charaéter of envoys; but, in reality, 
as firebrands of discord and sedition. 
The grand objeét of their mission 
was, that the French republic should 
acquire such an influence and as« 
cendancy in North America, as she 
already possessedin Venice, Genoa, 
and the Swiss cantons: to divide 
the North Americans into twogreat 
political parties, or rather govern- 
ments; to play thenorthern states, 
where the French interest prepon- 
derated, against the southern ; to 
weaken, and so to obtain an influ- 
ence and authority over the whole. 
As the patriotism, prudence, and 
firmness of general Washington had 
contributed so largely to snatch his 
country from the grasp of the Bri- 
tish legislature, so now they con- 
tributed equally to save it from a 
conneétion and subordination, still 
more to be dreaded, with the French 
republic. — ; 
The magnitude of the danger, 
from which general Washington, be- 
fore his resignation of the presidency, 
saved his country, will sufficiently 
appear from the mention of one 
circumstance,that Mr. John Adams, 
the vice-president of the congress, 
the intimate and confidential friend 
of general Washington, and, in eve- 
ry respect, worthy of so great an ho-~ 
nour, was chosen his successor, by @ 
majority of only three votes above 
the number that appeared for Mr. 
Jefferson, who was at the head of 
the French party: which passed on 
the 8th of February, 1797. Itmay 
also be observed, to the same end, 
that the treaty for an amicable and 
commercial intercourse between 
Great Britain and North America 
was ratified only by the president’s 
casting vote. 
CHRONICLE, 
